The Time Was Then
In this week’s parsha, Shelach, spies are sent to tour the land of Israel. When they return, they tell the truth, but add the word “however.” It’s that however that throws the nation into chaos. Because, terrified, the people become certain that everything will end in failure. Whipped into a frenzy, the mob turns against Caleb and Joshua, the only two who are willing to hold fast to the narrative that no matter how challenging it may seem, God is with them and will protect them. The mob even threatens to stone them (Numbers 14:10). (I tend to think of the Mob Song scene in the animated version of Beauty and the Beast. All you need is one Gaston to sow fear and discord, even if you have Belle, Chip and Maurice arguing that it’s a lie. Obviously, the difference is that Gaston tells the people to go kill the Beast, while the ten spies spread a defeatist narrative in which the whole nation should give up hope and welcome defeat. Death in the desert is better than what awaits them in the Promised Land.)
An angry God wishes to rain destruction down upon the nation, but Moses mitigates His will. Subsequently, a group of individuals who are referred to as the Ma’apilim (the ones who defiantly go up) repent, admit that they have sinned, and decide they now want to enter the Promised Land after all. The following exchange takes place.
וַיַּשְׁכִּ֣מוּ בַבֹּ֔קֶר וַיַּֽעֲל֥וּ אֶל־רֹאשׁ־הָהָ֖ר לֵאמֹ֑ר הִנֶּ֗נּוּ וְעָלִ֛ינוּ אֶל־הַמָּק֛וֹם אֲשֶׁר־אָמַ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה כִּ֥י חָטָֽאנוּ׃ And they rose up early in the morning, and got them up to the top of the mountain, saying: 'Lo, we are here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised; for we have sinned.'
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֔ה לָ֥מָּה זֶּ֛ה אַתֶּ֥ם עֹבְרִ֖ים אֶת־פִּ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה וְהִ֖וא לֹ֥א תִצְלָֽח׃ And Moses said: 'Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD, seeing it shall not prosper?
אַֽל־תַּעֲל֔וּ כִּ֛י אֵ֥ין יְהֹוָ֖ה בְּקִרְבְּכֶ֑ם וְלֹא֙ תִּנָּ֣גְפ֔וּ לִפְנֵ֖י אֹיְבֵיכֶֽם׃ Go not up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten down before your enemies.
כִּי֩ הָעֲמָלֵקִ֨י וְהַכְּנַעֲנִ֥י שָׁם֙ לִפְנֵיכֶ֔ם וּנְפַלְתֶּ֖ם בֶּחָ֑רֶב כִּֽי־עַל־כֵּ֤ן שַׁבְתֶּם֙ מֵאַחֲרֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֔ה וְלֹא־יִהְיֶ֥ה יְהֹוָ֖ה עִמָּכֶֽם׃ For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and ye shall fall by the sword; forasmuch as ye are turned back from following the LORD, and the LORD will not be with you.'
וַיַּעְפִּ֕לוּ לַעֲל֖וֹת אֶל־רֹ֣אשׁ הָהָ֑ר וַאֲר֤וֹן בְּרִית־יְהֹוָה֙ וּמֹשֶׁ֔ה לֹא־מָ֖שׁוּ מִקֶּ֥רֶב הַֽמַּחֲנֶֽה׃ But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain; nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp.
וַיֵּ֤רֶד הָעֲמָלֵקִי֙ וְהַֽכְּנַעֲנִ֔י הַיֹּשֵׁ֖ב בָּהָ֣ר הַה֑וּא וַיַּכּ֥וּם וַֽיַּכְּת֖וּם עַד־הַֽחׇרְמָֽה׃ {פ}
Then the Amalekite and the Canaanite, who dwelt in that hill-country, came down, and smote them and beat them down, even unto Hormah.
The scene reads like the impetus for the Timbaland x One Republic song “Apologize” (That it's too late to apologize, it's too late/ I said it's too late to apologize, it's too late’ Too late, oh). But the question is: why?
These individuals admit that they have sinned. They recognize they lost faith, lost hope, and were swept away by a spirit of defeatism and fear. They did not believe in God enough to believe He would walk with them and fight for them. But now they recognize the error of their ways! They’ve sinned but they are sorry, and they are willing to go up and enter the land of Israel. They will show their faith in the noblest way. Why isn’t God on board with this? Don’t we hear (albeit not in the Torah proper, which focuses on atonement as opposed to repentance) about the importance of teshuva, returning to God? If so, why isn’t God with these men?
I think there are several different pieces to why this is so. The first, which Chabad beautifully addresses, is what it means to apologize. The second is my own, and it focuses on the importance of time.
Here’s Chabad’s take:
You meant well when you sent those flowers. But seeking forgiveness is not about regaining our own sense of “I’m a good person.” When we’ve hurt someone we have to ask, “What does the one I hurt need right now?” The path to reconciliation is to listen closely to the one we’ve pained and to genuinely seek his or her welfare. The ma’apilim, though they meant well, didn’t listen to G‑d and Moses—whose trust they had broken just a night earlier.
The focus here is on active listening. To be an active listener means you hear and respect the person who is speaking. You pay attention to what they say, and you focus on what they need. The Ma’apilim were so desperate to redeem themselves that they ignored God’s command and His wishes in the process. That is not a true apology, because it is not about God- it is about them.
But I think there’s another piece to it as well. And that has to do with the element of time.
The time for these people to act was then.
When Moses and Aaron fell on their faces (Numbers 14:5) and Caleb and Joshua were threatened with stoning (Numbers 14:10), they were in the minority. An angry mob muttered against them, fierce and frustrated, and the situation was one of complete chaos. The people were in such desperate straits that they spoke about appointing a different leader who would bring them back to Egypt, because the evil and oppression they were accustomed to was better than the fear of the unknown. At least in Egypt they would be alive albeit enslaved; in contrast, in the land, they would certainly die.
That was the time of crisis. That was the moment when anyone who spoke up would be tarred and feathered along with Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb. It wasn’t safe to speak up then, and only the most courageous could have done it.
It’s only the next morning, after the night passes and tempers have cooled, that these Ma’apilim defiantly decide they will brave the unknown and enter the Promised Land. God is not impressed with this. The time to act is not the next day, after you’ve had time to cool down and think. The time to act is in the heat of the moment, when tempers are raging, people are unwilling to listen to reason, and the crisis is at its peak. When everything is touch and go, that’s when a person needs to intervene.
To bring a contemporary example, when Harry Potter is being skewered and maligned in the Daily Prophet, the people who still stick up for him (Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, Dumbledore) are the courageous ones. The fickle ones who simply follow the new trend, or who are willing to claim they support Potter when there is no risk to themselves in so doing, are not deserving of respect. They aren’t truly brave. The brave reveal themselves by being willing to take a stand and act in the moment of crisis.
To add support to this theory, we return to Saul, first king of Israel. Saul makes two major mistakes. First, he disobeys Samuel’s instructions when the going gets tough, offering the sacrifice himself when the prophet was clear that he was the one who needed to offer the sacrifice. Second, he disobeys God’s instructions to wipe out all that belonged to Amalek, including their sheep, cattle, men, women and children. Saul permits his men to save the best of the flock, and he personally saves Agag.
Why does Saul do these things? Because he is people-pleasing, approval-seeking and does not want to fight the will of the nation. When the nation flees from him and starts hiding in caves and rocks, Saul becomes fearful and decides he must act, which is why he offers the sacrifice. When the people decide they would like to save the flock, Saul chooses the easy way out, deciding not to argue with them and coming up with a rationalization that they will offer the best of these animals as sacrifices to God, so all is acceptable.
(As an aside, contrast this with David’s ability to hold 400 disreputable men in check (I Samuel 24) when Saul is at their mercy and they want to kill him, and you can see what kind of leadership David possessed. It was the exact kind Saul did not have.)
But offering Amalekite animals as sacrifices is not what God wants. God, as the prophet Samuel savagely informs Saul, desires obedience. And then he says something curious:
כִּ֤י חַטַּאת־קֶ֙סֶם֙ מֶ֔רִי וְאָ֥וֶן וּתְרָפִ֖ים הַפְצַ֑ר יַ֗עַן מָאַ֙סְתָּ֙ אֶת־דְּבַ֣ר יְהֹוָ֔ה וַיִּמְאָסְךָ֖ מִמֶּֽלֶךְ׃ {ס}
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, He hath also rejected thee from being king.
-I Samuel 15:23
Rebellion is like witchcraft and stubbornness is like idolatry.
Why?
Because it’s a way of serving your own ends, not what God wills. And this statement of Samuel’s comes back to be literally true at the end of Saul’s life. By then, God has turned away from Saul, choosing to reside with David instead.
וַיִּשְׁאַ֤ל שָׁאוּל֙ בַּיהֹוָ֔ה וְלֹ֥א עָנָ֖הוּ יְהֹוָ֑ה גַּ֧ם בַּחֲלֹמ֛וֹת גַּ֥ם בָּאוּרִ֖ים גַּ֥ם בַּנְּבִיאִֽם׃ And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.
וַיֹּאמֶר שָׁאוּל לַעֲבָדָיו, בַּקְּשׁוּ-לִי אֵשֶׁת בַּעֲלַת-אוֹב, וְאֵלְכָה אֵלֶיהָ, וְאֶדְרְשָׁה-בָּהּ; וַיֹּאמְרוּ עֲבָדָיו אֵלָיו, הִנֵּה אֵשֶׁת בַּעֲלַת-אוֹב בְּעֵין דּוֹר. Then said Saul unto his servants: 'Seek me a woman that divineth by a ghost, that I may go to her, and inquire of her.' And his servants said to him: 'Behold, there is a woman that divineth by a ghost at En-dor.'
When God does not answer Saul, he resorts to witchcraft- literally embracing rebellion.
And the prophet Samuel, whose shade is brought up by the Witch of En-Dor, calls him out on it
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר שְׁמוּאֵ֔ל וְלָ֖מָּה תִּשְׁאָלֵ֑נִי וַיהֹוָ֛ה סָ֥ר מֵעָלֶ֖יךָ וַיְהִ֥י עָרֶֽךָ׃
And Samuel said: 'Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the LORD is departed from thee, and is become thine adversary?
Does this sound familiar? This is exactly the story of the Ma’apilim. Moses warns them that God is not with them, and thus they will die.
So why isn’t God with them? Why wasn’t God with Saul?
It was because of their inability to stand up during a time of crisis.
Saul had the potential to manage the nation in a time of crisis. He did it twice- once when he rallied all of them to fight against Nachash, and once when he prevented them from eating on the blood. Despite the possible backlash, he cared so strongly about those causes that he was willing to brave the people’s disapproval. Unfortunately, during other moments of crisis, like when the Philistines were massing against the nation or he was told to slaughter everything of the Amalekites, he cared more about how the nation perceived him than doing God’s will.
Similarly, the Ma’apilim had a moment to stand up and ally themselves with Caleb and Joshua- and that was during the time of crisis. Trying to take a stand the next day, in the cool light of morning, is too little, too late. They can’t avert their fate, and their willful stubbornness in persisting shows that they are yet again unwilling to heed God.
The lesson for us, I think, is that we need to act when we see a crisis occurring. Even if it is at great cost to ourselves, even if it means we lose someone’s approval, even if all the people whose opinions we respect are not yet on board, if there’s a crisis and we can somehow help it or avert it or defend people caught up in it, the time to act is then. Anything else will be too late. And while our efforts at that later time might be admirable, they won’t be effective. They might even end in doom.
“I will take the Ring,” he said, “though I do not know the way.” - Tolkien
